Ingredients

The very best reason to use Cold Pressed soap is the ingredients. Typically Cold Pressed soap is made of vegetable oils and butters that are rich in antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients that are essential to healthy skin. Not only improving your skins appearance but can also give relief from itchiness, dryness and skin conditions such as Eczema, Psoriasis and Urticaria. Everyone wants healthy skin and switching to daily use of Cold Pressed soap is the best place to start. We take pride in our ingredients and are excited to share our knowledge with you. Cold Pressed soap is the true soap unlike that mass produced commercial stuff that you get at the supermarket which is anything but. You have an array of personal cleansers to choose from that are labelled as deodorant soap, body bars, body washes and our personal favourite the beauty bar!. These are just chemical cocktails made of detergents and downright disturbing synthetic ingredients that dehydrate and age skin, cause allergic reactions and have been linked to various skin forms of cancer. Cold Pressed soap is the real deal and one of the most appealing aspects is that the harmful and unnecessary ingredients are NOT added to make it.

Nasty Chemicals Commonly Used in Commercial Bars

Tetra-sodium ETDA

Tetra-sodium ETDA, made from ethylenediamine, formaldehyde—a known carcinogen according to the National Cancer Institute—and sodium cyanide (which is made from the toxic gas hydrogen cyanide). It gets worse. This ingredient is also a penetration enhancer. That means it breaks down the skin’s protective barrier, making it easier for other potentially harmful ingredients in the formula to sink deeper into your tissues and perhaps even into your bloodstream.

Triclosan

Triclosan is a pesticide that has antibacterial properties. It is often found in soaps because it helps to get rid of potentially dangerous bacteria that have built up on your skin during the day. Unfortunately, it is this antibacterial action that makes triclosan one of the worst contributors to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance (which encourages the evolution of resilient bacteria that are extremely difficult to kill). Another important reason to avoid the toxic soap ingredient triclosan is that it is what is called an endocrine disruptor. Endocrine disruptors cause potentially dangerous fluctuations in your hormone levels and triclosan has been proven to have a particularly strong influence on the female sex hormone oestrogen. The hormonal changes caused by triclosan can dramatically increase the likelihood of developing breast cancer.

Dioxane

Since dioxane is a synthetic derivative of coconut, some people mistakenly assume that it must be an innocuous ingredient in personal care products. However, it is actually a carcinogenic chemical that is also toxic to the brain, liver and kidneys. Like the other toxic soap ingredients in this list, dioxane should be avoided.

Sodium laurel sulphate (SLS)

Sodium lauryl sulphate (or SLS) is one of the most common toxic soap ingredients added to soaps and shower gels. When SLS bonds with other common soap ingredients, it becomes a carcinogenic nitrosamine. One of the reasons SLS is so dangerous is that it permeates your skin very easily and also makes your skin more permeable to all the other chemicals mentioned on this list. Furthermore, tests on animals show that SLS causes skin irritation, leads to organ toxicity, promotes hormonal disruptions and increases your susceptibility to mood disorders.

Diethanolamine (or DEA)

Diethanolamine (or DEA) is also extremely easily absorbed through your skin and it combines with the nitrate preservatives commonly added to soaps to create nitrosodiethanolamine (or NDEA). A wide range of studies have shown that NDEA is a potent carcinogenic and it is most strongly linked to the development of kidney and liver cancers. In addition, pregnant women should be especially cautious of DEA, as it is capable of interfering with your body’s ability to absorb a nutrient called choline. Unborn children need choline if their brains are to develop properly. All of these concerns are also likely to apply to triethanolamine (or TEA), which is a derivative of DEA. If you are pregnant or nursing you should definitely avoid this and all other toxic soap ingredients on this list.

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is commonly found in soaps, and so are chemicals that release formaldehyde (e.g. diazolidinyl urea). As would be expected from any of the toxic soap ingredients listed here, Formaldehyde is a chemical to avoid. Formaldehyde weakens the immune system, leading to a reduced resistance to disease and it can also cause respiratory disorders, chronic fatigue, frequent headaches and an irregular heartbeat.

Parabens

Parabens (such as methylparaben and propylparaben) are preservatives that are commonly added to bars of soap. However, scientific studies have repeatedly shown that being exposed to parabens boosts a woman’s risk of developing any form of breast cancer (because parabens mimic the action of the hormone oestrogen). Further studies have demonstrated that parabens can also cause neurological problems by way of nervous system toxicity. Thankfully, many companies that make soaps and shower gels will now explicitly advertise the fact that they do not use parabens.

Fragrance

Almost all bars of soap contain added fragrances in order to make them more enjoyable to use in the bath or shower. However, printing ‘fragrance’ on a soap label can be extremely misleading, as this often means that up to thousands of different chemicals have been added in order to create the special smell of the soap. Fragrance ingredients increase your risk of developing a wide range of medical problems, including chronic dizziness, nausea, rashes, depression, respiratory distress and severe headaches. On a scale of one to ten, the Environmental Working Group rates fragrance as deserving of an eight.

PEG-6

PEG-6 is another one of these extremely common toxic soap ingredients and it regularly contains toxic impurities that can cause a wide range of dangerous conditions. Studies show that exposure can cause a large increase in your likelihood of developing breast cancer.

These chemicals highlighted are just a few of the toxic ingredients added to the common beauty bars found readily available on the market.